Monday, November 19, 2012

last minute hitch

I was supposed to be a pair of fenders and the front wheels away from rolling. The fenders went on quite easily (doesn't everything by the fourth time!), and I didn't waste much time on the alignment.


So far, so good. Now the wheels....well this was where I ran into a snag. You see my brakes came from a Granada setup that my friend Terry donated to the cause, and while I used the spindles, the rotors had either worn or been surfaced below the minimum thickness...so I had to throw them away...which is exactly what I did, soon after I acquired them.

Now you see it...

Now....fast forward a few months, and it's time to move the car...and no rotors. Fortunately it wasn't a big deal to get a pair of replacements. At least it wasn't a big deal after I paid a visit to my buddy Mark at the Vic Hubbard Speed Shop. As well as the rotors, Mark sorted me out with all the bearings and seals, and for a great price too. So all good....well, not so fast. What I didn't realize, when I ordered the "Granada rotors", or even while I was installing them, was that the hub on these discs is larger than on the Mustang rotors...which means, in layman's terms...that the wheels won't fit on. Oh $hit....school boy error :( This would be bad enough anytime, but on the day before I needed to move the car I could have got by without it.


These are the roller wheels I have on at the back of the car - part of a set of four that I stole from my friend Terry's backyard while he was at work. They used to have the limited edition center caps until our friend James took them off and sold them! One day they will be replaced with some Magnum 500's and a set of classic BF Goodrich treads.


But.....nothing I could do was going to make these wheels fit on over the rotors I just installed, so I made yet another frantic SOS call to my good friend Chuck...and after a quick wave of the BAMA magic wand, we managed to borrow some appropriate wheels from one of the guys at Mostly Mustangs in Oakland. These wheels actually came off a Jeep. It's not quite the look I'm going for, but seriously, I don't know where I'd be without my car-guy friends....probably still trying to change my oil pan gasket.


Looking more like a drag car than ever:


Leaving, as it arrived, on the back of a flat bed:


Settling into the new home:


to be continued....

4 comments:

  1. Ah beggars can't be choosers :) No matter how hard you plan, something always comes up at the last minute to derail you. Sounds like you quickly recovered and got her moved though.

    SusieQ came with an odd set of wheels when we first got her. In the days before the internet, you couldn't just look stuff up like now. Turned out they were 'volcano' rally wheels off an AMC Javelin - which is pretty close to a Jeep. So looks like Ford and AMC got together and agreed on center hubs dimensions. Interesting...

    rj

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  2. The Granada setup requires 15 inch wheels. Unless the 14 inch wheels didn't have the center section riveted in but welded instead
    (I read that somewhere). Clearance was an issue. I got the Granada setup and had to use 15 inch wheels. A set back I wasn't really hoping for.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for that James, I was not aware. I have however been told that the Granada setup is also far from ideal in terms of steering geometry as well. And to add to that it is reportedly "...just not very good." I've decided to scrap the work I've done and just buy the SSBC stock setup. After all I'm supposed to be making the car safer and easier to drive!

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  3. that's a bugger to deal with. I remember when I got my Granada set up I would have to use 15" wheels which is ok since I'm leaning toward 16" Magnum 500's. But hey, with good friends, you're in business...something to be thankful for tomorrow, eh? :-D

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